Merit Rumema wrote to Kubatana about the constitutional process questioning why so few women are actively involved in shaping the debate and discussion. Here’s her contribution:

Are women just political cheerleaders?

To say I was shocked at the level of women’s participation in the ongoing constitutional reform process is an understatement. I was appalled, devastated and disappointed. After attending three meetings in Mashonaland West Province, I was forced to come back, sit on my desk and ask myself, “What exactly is women’s participation?”

Is it the high turn out of women at these meetings, after all, there are more women in rural areas than men? Surely how can 300 women attend a meeting, just to ululate and clap hands as four, yes, 4 men, dominate a three-hour discussion. Surely how can that happen? Is women’s participation simply cheering and ululating?

As an observer from a women’s rights organisation, I travelled hundreds of kilometres to see for myself if women were being given an opportunity to speak and make their demands known. I sat through the 26 talking points and waited for women to speak. Talking point 11 discusses empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups. At this point I became really expectant, thinking women would consider how they have been disadvantaged and make new demands in the constitution such as free adult education.

Talking point 19 discusses independent commissions. Not one woman though to talk of a gender commission. This really got me very worried. What will the draft constitution comprise of? What is going on?

Back in my office after three similar meetings I started to ask myself what a people driven constitution really is and who the people are. >From my limited experience, the people are the political parties, and it has become impossible to separate the political party influence from individual thinking, aspirations and desires.

And as usual, everything that has political connotations attached to it becomes a playing zone for men, while women are silent spectators or cheerleaders, depending which party reigns in the area. Whether it is fear, intimidation, lack of knowledge and political will, in rural Zimbabwe, the women’s role is to be used as stepping stones in the dirty game called politics.

Why are we as a nation spending time and resources on a process whose outcome will hinge only on politics party needs?

Now tell me. If in any given week we can have Freshlyground banned from performing in Zimbabwe, Owen Maseko’s work on Gukurahundi banned, and SW Radio Africa jammed, what’s the point of this inclusive government again?

The Constitution outreach process has been extended to give more time for public consultation, and the COPAC teams will be in Harare and Bulawayo on the 18th and 19th of September 2010.

The Women’s Coalition has issued an alert calling on women and women’s organisations to participate in the remaining outreach meetings, reporting that:

COPAC statistics reveal that although women attending outreach meetings total 38 percent compared to men at 42 percent, women did not participate actively by speaking out at meetings. On average, women account for a small only 14.6% ONLY of the speakers at Outreach meetings. This means that our issues have not been articulated adequately.

We are encouraging you to reach out to the surbarbs where you have traditionally worked and has a constituency. Sit down with the women and make sure that they speak from beginning to the end of the meeting. We need all our issues in the constitution.

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The latest monthly round up from Veritas / Peace Watch provides a valuable summary of recent events, particularly around the Constitution making process in Zimbabwe.

Worryingly, it mentions incidents of political violence, harassment and intimidation associated with this process, raising questions as to how genuine public input into the new Constitution will be.

For example:

Intimidation of farm workers attending outreach meetings: General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) said farm workers, especially those from Mashonaland Central and West, have been forced to voice certain positions at outreach meetings and are being silenced on issues related to land.

Read more

The Union for Sustainable Democracy suggests that even if Robert Mugabe is in good health, its about time he stepped down. 30 years in power seems like a good innings:

President Robert Mugabe must step down now

President Robert Mugabe yesterday refuted rumours about his supposed ill-health. Gossip is always a dubious source of information and for that reason it was quite refreshing to hear from the horse’s mouth. Messages of his assumed deteriorating health had Zimbabwe extremely worried!

Accordingly, the Union for Sustainable Democracy wishes President Robert Mugabe continued good health and is pleased to note – as he said in his interview with Reuters yesterday – that he is, in fact, of sound body. Life is precious and must be celebrated. We wish him as many more years as God will grant him.

What better time to take a break!

The simple and plain facts are that President Mugabe has been in power for 30 years; his leadership is deplorable and he is now 86 years old.

Whether or not he continues to rule the country should not depend on the results of tests for cancer. That is not the issue. The issue in Zimbabwe is dictatorship. It has been for over two decades. Surely that is cancerous enough!

As our USD President wrote in an article recently: “The moment has come for Zimbabwe to attain its political maturity, with power changing hands and life going along. After all it is not the state of the leader that matters, but the state of the nation”.

If President Mugabe wishes to dedicate the remaining years of his life to Zimbabwean politics he is more than welcome to do so but merely in an advisory capacity. Nothing more!

We strongly call on President Robert Mugabe to pave way for the ‘resurrection’ of the country by stepping down and handing over power to an abler person within ZANU PF as the country gears up for democratic elections.

- Fiona Mudzongo, Communications Manager

I really am stumped by co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone’s insistence that the police have been reformed. The implication is that all is rosy in Zimbabwe’s law and order department. But if that’s the case, how can a young man be jailed for a year and sentenced to hard labour, as in the SW Radio Africa story below, simply for calling an 86-year-old man old.

Man jailed for one year for ‘insulting’ Mugabe

A 23 year old man has been sentenced to a year behind bars with hard labour, for ‘insulting’ Robert Mugabe.

On Friday Chipinge provincial magistrate Samuel Zuze handed down the stiff sentence to Gift Mafuka, who was accused of make an “insulting” remark to two children wearing pro-Mugabe T-shirts. Mafuka apparently asked the boys why they were wearing T-shirts, picturing an old person with wrinkles.

Mafuka was found guilty of contravening the Criminal Codification and Reform Act, by “insulting the office of the President.” However, his sentence was reduced by two months on condition he does not call Mugabe ‘old’ again in the next five years. Mugabe will be 91 by that time.

Human rights lawyers have called the sentence “political” as Mafuka’s comments could not in any way be considered a crime. The lawyers have encouraged Mafuka to appeal, saying his conviction and sentence were unlikely to stand up in a higher court.

May we suggest to Mr. Mugabe that he checks in with his plastic surgeon the moment there is a window of opportunity in his busy schedule, as clearly he is in need of a top up of the Botox he has on a regular basis.

Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa